So I managed to convince my girl that we should head up to the only local race track left in the area to watch some good old dirt track racing. The cost is low, you can bring in your own food and drinks, plus the racing is exciting. I wanted to make sure we made it there this year as rumors are going around that this track could sadly be closed down soon. Even the announcer constantly was stating to "Tell your friends, buy a shirt, buy some food, let's keep racing alive in San Diego!" Anyhow..
It appears not much has changed in dirt track racing.. and that is a great thing! There is nothing wrong with it. Loud, sideways, out of control, a bit of contact, cheaper racing, what's not to enjoy? The classes are pretty much the same: Modifieds, Pro Stock, Street Stock, Pony Stock, Dwarf cars, and the Jr. Classes (age 5-15). For this short track the Dwarf Cars are my favorite, they are smaller, with 800-1100cc motorcycle motors. This yields constant battles, passing, and just more action packed races.
The other class I enjoy are the Pony Stocks consisting of classy finely tuned Pintos, Mustangs, Crown vics, and others. Nothing fancy just good ol' American made cars being flogged around. These are the same types of guys we find racing with us in LeMons, the cars are home built in their garage, family run, and a large part of the cost is the safety gear. Just get it running and lets go have fun!
Well on to my struggle with photographing this event.. I really could not get it right. The first location I chose, I could not see over the fence. I kept getting shots with cones in the way, I kept looking down to adjust my camera missing most of the great moments.. then once we finally moved to where I could see over the fence, it got dark.
My cheap 55-200mm VR can only open up to f/5.6 at the long end.. really this is no good except for in sunlight. So I again spent way too much time messing with my camera instead of just enjoying the racing and shooting away.. very few of the shots came out ok.. and with how high I had to crank up the ISO.. the only way I think the pictures look cool is without any color.. It was nice to get the panning practice at such low shutters speeds though.
If we go up again.. likely I will get there earlier, take pictures only while the sun is still out, then just put the camera down or put on my 35mm f/1.8 prime. Even though some of the shots I got are kinda cool, it just was not really worth it. Way too grainy, with way too many misses...
Still, good times were had, the races were a blast to watch, and there was only one real wreck. A Dwarf car rolled and hit the wall after some contact.. No worry, the driver got out perfectly fine. Definitely worth the $10 and a short drive.. Really should have been going all summer. I totally recommend going if you live in the area. There is one race left on Oct. 12th.. Hopefully we can make it!
Edit - Almost forgot great comment of the night came from my fiance, Cynthia.. "There sure are a lot of white people here eating KFC" Yeah so what if the only 3 non-white people we saw there were with me? Would not have it any other way.
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